In my previous blog I shared some of our successes in communicating our value proposition to the consulting community which raises the value of our membership and certification.  Today I will share several more successes we've had over the past months.  

Member Education

Being the founder of the Academy for Professional Development when Baldwin Tom CMC^® was the Chair of IMCUSA, member education is one of the things that is near and dear to my heart.  Don Scellato, and Diane Borhani and her Academy team, have worked hard to round out the educational offerings we have to help our members raise their "game" to the next level, and many kudos for this go to them for their efforts.  Some of the things we've instituted / improved upon in the past couple of years include:

• Created Consultapalooza, a way for senior consultants and CEOs to share their insights and secrets on how they do what they do and how got where they are
  
• Procured the C2M brand and resources
• As many of you know, C2M went out of business in 2005/6, resulting in our losing this treasure trove of wisdom.  I don't know about you, but I waited eagerly each quarter to get my issue. 
  
• We now have this jewel as part of the IMC USA Knowledge Library, where you can access those timeless articles from years past
  
• Created a full offering of courses aligned to the Competency Framework through the Academy for Professional Development
• There are many new offerings this year, including a certification preparation course called the Essentials of Management Consulting and a CMC Accelerator, the brainchild of Kathie Nelson, Geoff Guilfoy, and Manola Robison, to get you ready for certification

Education Outreach to the Profession

The excellent reputation of our educational offerings is getting out, and it resulted in our offering our Essentials course last year to a mid-size consultancy.  This was done in a 3-day face-to-face session in the DC area, and following the training, four of their consultants successfully completed the certification process and were awarded their CMC^®!

Raising the Visibility of IMC and the CMC^®

In a previous blog I discussed our earning ISO 17024:2003 certification for our CMC^® certification process.  We celebrated that achievement with a national PR campaign, and received recognition from multiple sources, both print and web. 

• As part of that, we had designated "media spokespeople" across the country who reached out to help get more publicity and raise the visibility of the CMC^®
  

Protecting the Brand

Having an outstanding brand such as the CMC^®­ isn't enough - we need to take steps to protect it.  Among the things we have done over the past year is:

• Pursued registration of the Certified Management Consultant™ certification with the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office). 
  
• As you may recall, we registered the CMC^® in 2002 with the USPTO, and thus can use the ® with the CMC. 
  
• Our petition for registering Certified Management Consultant™ has been favorably received by the USPTO, and we expect to have it registered early this year.  As such, we will be able to use the ® with it as we do with the CMC^®.
  
• Trademarked the CMC Firm™ and Certified Management Consulting Firm™ certifications.
  

International Presence

Many of our consultants work internationally, and for them, their CMC^® is recognized in 48 countries across the globe through our affiliation with the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI). 

Some of you know that I am the Lead Trustee to ICMCI, and I have been working hard on the international level to raise IMC USA's stature as a leader in the global consulting community. 

In September, Clint Burdett and I attended the ICMCI Annual Meeting in Jordan, which was attended by representatives from over 40 member institutes / countries.  Many important issues were discussed there that have bearing on us as an Institute and you as consultants.  Some of those included:

• IMC USA's CMC Firm™ certification has been adopted as one of the five strategic initiatives for ICMCI.
• At the Jordan Meeting, I presented our CMC Firm™ process and standards which were well received by the over 40 countries in attendance. 
  
• A task force has finalized the recognition of this, and I anticipate it be adopted globally in the next few months.
• IMC USA has also taken a lead role in the ISO accreditation process, with Clint Burdett driving key initiative.  This involvement with the key players in the certification world further enhances IMC USA's standing as the standard bearer for consulting in the USA.
• As part of our responsibilities to the global consulting community, we are helping consultants from other countries become certified, nurturing developing institutes, and training their leadership in the establishment and running of a quality certification program.
• While in Jordan, Clint and I conducted certification panes for seven consultants from Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic with Nick Shepherd, the former National Certification Chair for the Canadian Association of Management Consultants, as well as conducted assessor training for the new institutes.
  

As you can see, we were very busy last year and over the past few years, but yet there is still more to be done.  In my next blog I will present some of our plans for 2011 and beyond.

Yours in consulting,

Drumm McNaughton, Ph.D., CMC®
Chair and CEO